Westford Pop Warner merges with A-B

Tuesday

It’s a new season and a new partner for the Westford Pop Warner football program.

The Jr. Ghosts will also be known by a new name as Westford merged with Acton-Boxborough to become the grey and gold Knights.

The situation, however, remains fluid. The season begins Sept. 9.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Westford’s Mike Saunders said. “If it doesn’t work out we’ll go back to our separate organizations.”

The move is not out of the ordinary for the Westford youth program. It had a long partnership with Littleton.

Pop Warner was founded nationally in 1929.

“It was driven by a desire of both programs to combine resources,” Saunders said. “We want to stay viable programs. We both could have fielded teams, but with the low number of kids, we thought it would best to combine resources.”

The programs have been running joint practices since early August.

As for the numbers, the drop in participation did not surprise Saunders. First, there is a national downward trend due to possible safety issues as well as other sporting outlets for children.

Also, Saunders pointed to a drop in the number of children available to play football.

“Westford had a [population] bubble that is just starting to wane,” he said.

As far as the safety issues, including concussion concerns, Saunders and the Westford Pop Warner board has embraced new techniques and equipment designed to lower the impact of tackle football.

“We haven’t had any direct reports of things being too rough,” he said. “We try to allay fears by how we approach [the parents] and teach proper contact.”

Saunders said the Westford approach is completely different than, for example, Friday Night Tykes, a television show that followed the teams of the Texas Youth Football Association, including intense drills and fan heckling.

“We’re horrified by that,” Saunders said. “That’s not the way we do things in Westford. Before coaches step out onto the field, they have to accredited by USA Football, that includes training to prevent head injuries with proper tackling techniques and procedures; understanding of heat and proper hydration.

“We use football as a vehicle for life lessons. We teach teamwork on a small and large scale.”